However, it wasn’t exactly a flawless appearance, as Marmol walked two of the five batters he faced and threw just 15 of 29 pitches for strikes.

The good news is that he got swinging strikeouts on both Ryan Howard and John Mayberry Jr. after the right-hander with the best single-season strikeout rate in MLB history whiffed zero batters in his previous six games.

After the game Marmol talked about studying video of his mechanics with pitching coach Mark Riggins, saying: “I feel great right now.”

His return to the closer role will have to wait, however, as manager Mike Quade indicated that it’ll take more than one scoreless but walk-filled outing to reclaim ninth-inning duties from Sean Marshall and Kerry Wood.

Cubs manager Mike Quade said before a 6-1 win that Marmol, who was given two days off to try to fix his mechanics, was available if pitching coach Mark Riggins and bullpen coach Lester Strode felt the right-hander was ready.

Would Marmol be used in a save situation?

“It would depend on the situation and I’m not sure I’ve settled on that yet,” Quade said.